Mark Ruffalo Says Standalone ‘Hulk’ Movie A Possibility

Mark Ruffalo has stated that a standalone Hulk movie could be green-lit eventually. Will it be based on the Marvel storyline already in development, or could Marvel be planning yet another origin story?

Sources point to another possible origin story, but can Marvel prove the old adage that the “third time’s the charm”?

Technically there hasn’t been a hugely successful Hulk movie yet. Eric Bana’s version of it was a confusing mess of multiple scenes at once with little more than a cyclical storyline that repeated until they decided to end it. The second time we had Edward Norton filling the giant shoes of Bruce Banner, and though it was a more intelligent storyline, it still remains the weakest of the Marvel Phase One films, having not even included the infamous post credits scene.

The problem is something that Mark Ruffalo probably knows quite well about the character: Unless you’ve read the comics, it’s tough to find a story that translates well to the big screen and still delivers a competent storyline surrounding Hulk, and not many film-makers really read the comics (as any comic book movie hater will tell you).

Now working on the second Avengers film, Marvel may be considering another jab at Hulk. Ruffalo explained:

“I think – for the first time – [Marvel] is entertaining the idea of it. When we did Avengers, it was basically ‘no.’ And now I think there’s some consideration for it. There’s not even a skeletal version of what it would be. So I look forward to going down that road if we could crack that nut – I think the Banner/Hulk storyline isn’t an easy nut to crack.”

A possibility might include a “meeting of the minds” film where Tony Stark and Bruce Banner work together on something highly technical, bringing a more comic-friendly Mandarin back to the series as the two face off against him. The short film, All Hail the King, seemed to open that storyline up after the relatively disappointing Iron Man 3 plot twist.

Joss Whedon, director of the Avengers films, told the press about how Ruffalo might actually change things in spite of the inherent problems:

“[It] would be very, very hard. Hulk is a tricky son of a b****. He’s the Claudio of superheroes. Because the problem is it’s a very popular character, but it’s not a superhero. Half of it’s a superhero, half of it’s a werewolf. And you can’t structure it like a superhero movie, you can’t light it like a superhero movie. How do you develop that? It would be extremely difficult. The one thing you would have in your [favor] would be Mark Ruffalo. But right now I don’t know if they have plans to do that or not, because he works so well as part of a greater whole, but by himself, it’s tough. I don’t envy the guys who went before.”

Could Marvel make a standalone Hulk movie that actually works well enough with Mark Ruffalo, or should they just leave the character as part of a team and move on?